Need help with a complex property.

[Zeoph]

I have a conventional appraisal I am completing.

Subject has a main dwelling, detached garage with efficiency apartment and a separate dwelling at the rear next to a pond that is an additional house.

All of this is on the same lot. Cannot be divided and sold off due to not enough acreage.

Is this a 3 unit property? Client sent over order as a single family conventional.

Apartment and 2nd house share utilities.

Any help would be appreciated. I am having major brain fog right now.

Thank you

 

[George Hatch]

The market will treat that property as 3un residential. How a lender will treat it is going to vary. Either way, the form doesn't drive the analyses.

 

[J Grant]

I have a conventional appraisal I am completing.
Subject has a main dwelling, detached garage with efficiency apartment and a separate dwelling at the rear next to a pond that is an additional house.
All of this is on the same lot. Cannot be divided and sold off due to not enough acreage.
Is this a 3 unit property? Client sent over order as a single family conventional.
Apartment and 2nd house share utilities.
Any help would be appreciated. I am having major brain fog right now.

Have you inspected the property yet?

If one of the houses is smaller (subordinate to the main house ) then the second house is an ADU (accessory dwelling unit) and in addition, there is a garage efficiency apt .

Or, if both house are equal in size (imo) it is three units 2 houses and a garage efficiency apt

If I were you I would inform the client it will be one of those two options and does the client still want me to go forward, if yes, then proceed to see what the inspection yields and decide from there what the property is comprised of . The client may or may not lend on it or re-categorize to a 3 unit if you report it is a 3 unit.(which it may not be zoned for but securing a loan is not our problem)
)

 

[Zoe]

Yeah, zoning could be a problem. Talk to tax assessor and code enforcement about how it is classified. Do you know if any of them are rented? You may have to find comparable rentals and treat it like a duplex or 4 plex or multi-unit.

Your not going to find very similar single family owner occupied sales with similar attributes. You could do it as a single family and do cost approach or like gross rent multiplier on contributory value on the other two dwellings or you can find 2 unit to 4 or 8 unit sales and develop GRM and go that way. Have to study H&B use as improved. Talk to tax assessor and code on it.

 

[Zoe]

One more thing. Find out if this is being sold to a GSE. You may not want to use a GSE form if this is an in house loan that the lender is keeping in house.

 

[J Grant]

I have a conventional appraisal I am completing.
Subject has a main dwelling, detached garage with efficiency apartment and a separate dwelling at the rear next to a pond that is an additional house.
All of this is on the same lot. Cannot be divided and sold off due to not enough acreage.

Is this a 3 unit property? Client sent over order as a single family conventional.

Apartment and 2nd house share utilities.

FWIW, It is not uncommon for a loan officer or borrower or both, to try to call a multi-unit property a SFR, because the loan terms are better for a single-family loan.

And neither of them cares that they are setting the appraiser up by doing so. The property is either a house and a guest house with a garage apt, or it is two houses and a garage apartment. Either way,, there are three separate housing units on the property. And if any of them are rented, then that is a factor as well.

When experienced appraisers post here and say they have brain fog or don't know what a property is, imo, they know what the property is. The brain fog is wondering if there is some way around it to do what the client wants. Sorry, but I believe that to be true, I've been there myself, and it helps to understand if feeling conflicted is a property appraisal issue or if is a client business issue.

 

[Tom D]

let's see, one small fee to figure out what kind of an animal(s) is this. and when you think you have it figured, you better have spent a lot of time describing why you did what you did. and your work file better be bullet proof. and if there are no similar comps, be prepared for stips. not able to bracket, or prove how you came up with additional values. again your small fee for the potential risk that someone along the chain won't like, or understand, what you did. then it's 'please explain to use how you figured this adjustment and show us the proof in your work file. since you are asking the question here, i am being existential in my reply. give it back, and run rabbit run.

 

[Zoe]

I have no idea what code enforcement is in the subject area. They can be really strict in some areas. That's why I say see how tax assessor has it and code enforcement and the rents if there are some.

I would almost think the H&B use of some of those units is rental income. Depends on code enforcement rules or other rules.

 

[shrubberyvaluation]

let's see, one small fee to figure out what kind of an animal(s) is this. and when you think you have it figured, you better have spent a lot of time describing why you did what you did. and your work file better be bullet proof. and if there are no similar comps, be prepared for stips. not able to bracket, or prove how you came up with additional values. again your small fee for the potential risk that someone along the chain won't like, or understand, what you did. then it's 'please explain to use how you figured this adjustment and show us the proof in your work file. since you are asking the question here, i am being existential in my reply. give it back, and run rabbit run.

And if you are using a form with this cert you should turn it down or use a different formal for the report if you do not have adequate market data.

 

[J Grant]

The OP needs to ask themselves this;

Would they be having a "brain fog", if the client had sent it over for a small income property report as a 3 unit property?